Members of the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) on Thursday backed a text that would bar using sensitive data including a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, health conditions or sexual orientation for political advertising.According to the text of the regulation they approved, these new measures are necessary because "the processing of personal data for such purposes (...) has been observed to have specific negative effects on citizens’ rights including their freedoms of opinion and of information, to make political decisions and exercise their voting rights."The regulation would also force advertisers to clearly state that the ad is political in nature, indicate the name of the sponsor and make available information about the wider political context behind it."The loophole for direct messages is bound to be exploited by antidemocratic and anti-European movements to manipulate elections and referendums by spreading disinformation and hatred tailored to each voter’s personality and weaknesses."Their online behaviour and habits right down to sexual orientation or religious beliefs could be exploited to target manipulative and false political messages, as happened in the Trump and Brexit campaigns.""